Sermons on “Evangelism”

We can often assume that if people are interested in ‘what we’ve got’ they can come to us to share it. That is one of the reasons we focus on being a hospitable people. However, the reality is that many people will never set foot in our doors. Christianity from the beginning was designed to move outward to all people.

One classic struggle for the church has been getting people to pursue discipleship. This has grown out of the way we have framed the good news: we have gotten people saved. However, properly understood, discipleship is evangelism.

We can get caught up in methods and strategies of how to make people believe us and become like us. And, if we’re honest, we have used some methods that have been just plain bad. Instead of these, we should be trusting the Holy Spirit to empower our witness and reveal God to those we are sharing with.

The church is not a building of concrete and steel. Rather, the church is a redeemed people who form an alternative community to the rest of the world. We have been given the responsibility of being ambassadors of God by inviting people to enter into the renewed people of God.

When we use the language of evangelism, we know that we are called to share the good news (gospel). But, what is the good news? Many have been taught that the good news is that we were sinners condemned until Jesus came, now we can have our sin forgiven so we can go to heaven instead (getting saved). While forgiveness and salvation both come through Christ, this is not what the apostles described as the good news. If our evangelism is going to have the power of God, then we need to make sure we preach the gospel alone!

All of us who are Christians are responsible for sharing our faith with the people around us, but many of us feel unequipped to do that. This series looks at the essentials of our faith using four worldview questions. Yet at the heart of the call is to first and foremost live a questionable life.

It is a win when God’s people pursue a life of discipleship and become deeper, more authentic disciples, but we are not the end goal — the kingdom is. When Jesus calls his disciples it’s for them to become disciples who make new disciples. This is the bigger goal of our journey — to create disciples like us.